Fun, not gold, a top priority

June 08, 2004|By Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle.

Forget sending a group of NBA stars to represent America at the Olympics. America needs more than a gold medal in basketball at the Olympics. We need a new look and we need revenge. We owe it to ourselves to send a team that won't bore the world-- and American fans, and itself--to death.

Possibilities:

- Send the Lakers. Why send guys who'll squabble, bicker and struggle to get in sync because they are unfamiliar with one another? Send a team that will squabble, bicker and struggle to get in sync because it has spent five years honing those skills.

- Send the Harlem Globetrotters. The Olympics gives style points in diving and gymnastics and skating, why not basketball?

- Send an all-Greek team. Find 12 Greek citizens who can play and who can be considered American citizens by virtue of marriage or family tree. This American basketball team would give the Greek fans a chance to see actual Greek citizens competing in an Olympic team sport.

- Send the 1972 Olympic team. Yes, send The Boys of Bummer. Those 12 U.S. players had their bling-bling stolen. They have lived with the injustice 32 years, it's payback time.